Gingersnap
by thejilyship
Summary: Lily has always had interesting people walking into her bakery, and when James Potter shows up with a reindeer sweater and Christmas colored eyes, he definitely qualifies.


Lily had frosting on the tip of her nose the first time she met him.

His hair was a complete disaster and his eyes were bright and warm despite how cold he must have been, running into her shop wearing only a Christmas sweater embellished with reindeer and twinkly lights, but his eyes were warm and that was the first thing she noticed.

She didn't know that she had frosting on her nose of course, she'd been so concentrated on what she was doing that she didn't have time to notice much else (and that included the ringing of the bell above her door.) She was in crunch mode. Three weeks before Christmas was always a very busy time for her and her shop. She had orders to fill, as well as shelves to keep full.

And James didn't know that he looked a disheveled mess. Or perhaps he did, and he just knew that it was part of his charm.

Lily was bent over the counter putting buttons on her gingerbread people when she heard him at the counter behind her. He cleared his throat first and then run the service bell. She jumped slightly, not knowing how she managed to miss the doorbell, though it was a jingle bell this time of year and there was Christmas music playing, her subconscious had probably just thought it was part of the song that was playing.

She jumped up and turned toward him, putting her hand over her heart, which almost caused a whole slew of other problems because she was still holding her bag of icing and she almost squirted it all over her shirt. Instead, a large dollop came out the end and fell onto the floor.

"Oh shoot," James, though she hadn't known his name at the time, reached up to his messy hair and buried his fingers in it. "I didn't mean to frighten you," He looked so apologetic that Lily started laughing as she set her icing bag down. His eyes were wide and that was the first time that she noticed how they looked like caramel and hot cocoa and evergreen. She grabbed a rag and swiped at the icing on the floor before she could embarrass herself further by slipping in it.

"Of course, you didn't, I was just focused on what I was doing. I should have heard you come in. What can I do for you?" She asked, walking over to the counter and straightened a plate of sample cookies that was sitting next to the bell that he had just rung.

"I'm here for some holiday treats." He said, looking at her for a moment longer than seemed necessary before his eyes slid over to the case holding a selection of her baked goods. Lily didn't know if he'd been checking her out or if he was trying to gauge whether or not she was upset with him for frightening her, but she hoped that it was the former. "My mum sent me here, she told me that you make the best Yule Log, though I've got to be honest, I've never heard of a Yule Log in the dessert variety, so I'm not sure what it is."

"It's kind of like a cake. And it's very chocolatey." Lily grinned. "Does your mother come here often? Perhaps I know her."

"I think she does," He nodded, his hand sliding out of his hair as he rested his palms on the counter. "Euphemia Potter?"

"Oh yes! She told me that her son was coming into town. I'm glad to see that she's got you running errands for her now. She's always so busy." Lily grinned. She was fond of Euphemia. The woman came in almost every Sunday morning after she went to church. She and Lily chatted for a good long while as Lily finished up her doughs that would need to chill overnight for her Monday orders. She'd been talking about her son for the last couple weeks quite frequently. At first Lily had assumed that it was because she had missed him, but then it became apparent that there was something more to it.

 _"James has been single for so long now,"_ and _"He just can't seem to find himself a nice girl," w_ ere not things that were said without having an ulterior motive.

"Oh, my mum is good at putting me to work." He grinned. Lily wondered if he knew that his mum had been talking him up to Lily for the last couple of weeks. If he did know, then he was acting as though he didn't, pretty convincingly.

"So that would make you James," Lily said, because they still hadn't introduced themselves and she wanted to subtly let him know that she'd meant what she'd said about Euphemia mentioning him. "Oxford grad with ambitions to be doctor. Pediatrics, if my memory serves me." She stuck her hand out. "I'm Lily."

James brow was raised, and Lily decided that he definitely did not know about his mother's plans here. "I'm very sorry that my mother comes in here and bores you with all of that, Lily." He chuckled, taking her hand.

Lily shook her head. "She does not bore me with anything. She always speaks so animatedly that it'd be hard not to get interested in what she was saying."

James shrugged. "I suppose that's true."

Lily grinned at him and then grabbed a pad of paper. "So, she wants a Yule Log? And I'm guessing a batch of gingerbread and lemon sugar cookies. Two dozen each?"

"I guess my mom does come here a lot. Though we better make it three dozen, my mates are staying with us for Christmas this year and one in particular has a sweet tooth that I've yet to see satiated." Lily grinned.

"Well I'll do my best to help with that." She wrote down the order and decided to throw in a few dozen peppermint swirls on the house. Whether it was because of Euphemia or James' charming grin, she couldn't have told you. Though Euphemia wasn't there.

"Alright, I should have all of that ready by tomorrow evening." She hung up the order after the other four that she was working on and double checked her maths before nodding. "Yes, tomorrow evening."

James seemed stuck for a moment, like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to leave or not. "Oh, right. Yes, then I'll be here tomorrow to pick them up." He turned around to walk toward the door, but then paused and picked up a napkin off the counter. "I'm going to feel bad if I don't say anything. You've um, you've got a bit of something on your nose."

Lily reached up to touch her nose but he beat her too it, leaning in while reaching out with the napkin wiping the frosting off. Lily bit on her bottom lip and felt her cheeks heat up. _Of course_ she had frosting all over her bloody face when she met this handsome stranger with Christmas in his eyes.

"Thank you." She said, offering to take the napkin.

He handed it to her and then his hand was back in his hair. "I meant to just hand you the napkin. I realize that touching your face like that was a bit weird. Sorry."

She shook her head. "No, I'm just embarrassed that it's been there the entire time that we've been talking."

"Don't be, it just makes it seem like you're very much in your element here." He looked around her shop and then smiled at her in a way that made her heart rate pick up. "Brought out your eyes too. I don't think I've ever seen eyes so green. They're beautiful." And then his ears were red, and he was averting his gaze. Lily smiled into her hand and wished that she could stop blushing on command.

"Anyway," He cleared his throat and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Look at the ridiculous sweater I chose to wear in here, if anyone should be embarrassed-"

"You should by _no_ means be embarrassed of that sweater. It is one of the greatest ones that I've seen this year." She assured him. She realized that she was no longer being professional, that she was flirting with him now, but he'd started it and she couldn't help herself.

He laughed and scrunched his nose, pushing his glasses up a ways. She was quite sure that she'd never found someone so endearing before. "Alright, thanks for interrupting that because I'm honestly in love with this sweater and hated myself for starting to lie about that." Lily laughed as well and leaned up against the bakery case.

"The fact that it lights up _and_ has dancing reindeer all over it," She clicked her tongue. "It's truly excellent."

"My brother got me a pair of antlers to wear with it to Christmas parties as well."

"Do they have jingle bells on them?"

"Of course," He gave her a look questioning why she'd even ask such a thing and she laughed again.

The bells above her door chimed and they both turned to look at the customer who was walking in from the cold. James looked back at her and was quiet for a moment, but then the new customer walked up in line behind him and he bobbed his head up and down. "Alright, so I'll pick up that order tomorrow then. Is four o'clock too early?"

"No, it should be done by four."

"Perfect." He smiled, and she returned it easily. "I'll see you tomorrow, Lily."

"Have a good one, James."

oOo

Lily had first gotten into baking when she was very young. Her father had passed away and her mother started baking as a way to keep her mind and hands busy, and it was something that Lily was able to do with her. And so even though she loved it, and she baked all the time, she baked even more when she had something on her mind.

And so, she went through her orders a bit faster than usual the next day, knowing that James would be coming in to pick up the order at four.

She didn't know why she was feeling nervous. He'd definitely been flirting with her yesterday, and she knew that she'd been flirting as well. She didn't have any expectations for today. Perhaps it was the idea that Euphemia would come in with James today, ask for Lily's opinion of her son, while James stood there next to both of them. What would she say then? She wasn't good with awkward situations.

She had no reason to think that Euphemia would come in though, did she? James hadn't said anything, and the older woman had sent him alone yesterday.

It was three o'clock before she took a deep breath and decided that the entire ordeal was all in her head. There was no reason to be nervous, no reason to be flustered, no reason that she couldn't tell James or his mother that she thought he was a very nice young man (should Euphemia show up.)

She took a tray of cookies out of the oven and started moving them to the cooling rack when she heard the bell go off above the door. "I'll be with you in a moment!" She called out, not wanting another situation where she got frightened by her customers because she wasn't paying attention.

She finished putting the cookies on the cooling rack so that the bottoms wouldn't get burnt while sitting on a hot tray, and then turned around. She felt a bit as though the rug had just been pulled from under her, because on the other side of the counter, James was grinning at her in an equally wonderful (or terrible, depending on your perspective) Christmas sweater as the one he'd worn yesterday.

And if it were possible, his smile was even more charming than it was yesterday.

"Lo," He put his hands on the counter like he had yesterday and his glasses slipped down his nose a bit. Lily grinned at him, brushing her hands on her apron as she walked up to the counter.

She looked back at the clock that was hanging on the wall. "Sorry to tell you, but you're early. You're not supposed to be here till four."

"Oh I know. Didn't expect you to be ready yet, just thought I could keep you company while you finish up."

"Well then I'm even more sorry to tell you that I've finished your order. I finished a couple hours ago actually."

His smile didn't even dip as he nodded. "That's fine really, because I was actually going to ask you to add something to the order."

"Oh? And what would you be adding to the order?"

"Cinnamon rolls." He said with _almost_ no hesitation.

"And what makes you think that I have time to make those now?"

"I can wait, I have time." He shrugged, reaching up to fix his glasses.

"Your mother doesn't have you running any other errands for her?"

"No, when I told her I was coming here, she gave all the errands to my brother." Lily laughed and pushed her hair back over her shoulder.

"That sounds about right."

"So she has been talking me up then?" He shook his head and laughed. "I knew she was lying."

"I think she was trying to be subtle if that makes it better."

"Was she really trying? Or did she just want to give the impression that she was trying to be subtle?"

Lily pursed her lips and tilted her head. "Probably the second one."

"Yeah, that sounds about right." He repeated her statement from earlier. "Anyway, the cinnamon rolls? You think you can swing it?"

"You're pretty cute so…" She shook her head and looked into the kitchen. She did have time to make cinnamon rolls. They only took about fifty minutes and due to her speed baking earlier in the day, all her orders were already complete. "Alright, we can add your ruse to the order."

James put a hand over his heart and did his best to look affronted, though he didn't stop smiling so the effect was ruined. "Ruse? Cinnamon rolls are never a ruse, ma'am. They are a necessity."

"I both disagree and agree with that. You're using them as a ruse, but they are also a necessity." James laughed and leaned up against the bakery case as Lily went about collecting ingredients. "So how long are you in town for then?" Lily asked.

"Surprised my mother didn't tell you that already. London is officially home again starting next week." He was inspecting the gingerbread cookies that were taking up the entire top shelf of the case. "Do you always decorate your cookies this intricately?"

Lily snorted, "Definitely not. I would never fill an order if I spent that kind of time on each cookies. Those are works of art, and not for eating."

"All cookies are for eating." She looked over at him and he had picked up a cookie from the platter that she had set out for the day, a gingerbread man, and he bit it's head off.

She gasped. "Not in front of his family!" James covered his mouth to keep crumbs from falling out of his mouth as he laughed. "Don't encourage me." Lily grinned, turning back to her table. She started measuring out ingredients and dumping them into a bowl.

"How long have you had this shop?"

"Two years this February."

"Is there a story behind the name?"

Lily smiled to herself, "I mean, everyone already made the connection." She shrugged and pointed at her head. "So I just thought that I should embrace it."

"I was hoping that it had something to do with that beautiful hair of yours."

"You know, you have quite an interesting mop as well. What do you call that style?"

"Four days past realized-I-need-a-trim." James' hand was in his hair when she looked over of course, and she laughed. "My brother told me that it looks like there's something living in it."

"It's impressively unruly." Lily didn't disagree.

"Well I might not get it cut if you start giving me compliments like that." Lily snorted again and shook her head.

"Your bar for a compliment is rather low."

"You get more compliments that way." He shrugged.

"I suppose you would." She was shaping the dough now. It wouldn't be long until she'd be putting them in the oven.

"You ever feel like you've already met someone?" James was looking at her rather intensely when she glanced over at him this time. "Like you already know someone?"

Lily felt her heart rate pick up and she looked back down at the dough. "We met yesterday. So we have already met."

"You know that's not what I mean." He sighed. "I've always made friends easily enough, but I don't connect with people this quickly."

"You think we knew each other in a past life?" Lily grinned, ignoring her blush.

"Probably." James smirked, one corner pulling up slightly higher than the other. "But then that opens up the entire possibility of fate and destiny."

"How so?" Lily narrowed her brow as she finished putting the last of the rolls into the pan. She walked them over to the oven and carefully slid them in before she walked back toward the counter. James waited until she was stopped right in front of him before he continued.

"Well if we keep finding each other throughout time, there's got to be a reason for that."

"Maybe the reason is because we just wanna." She put her elbow on the case and rested her chin on her fist.

"That's not as romantic." He shook his head.

"I disagree. Choosing someone is more romantic than the fates deciding to push them together."

He was quiet for a moment. "Well when you put it like that." She snorted. "I like it when you do that."

"When I sound like a pig?"

"You don't sound like a pig."

"We're going to have to agree to disagree on quite a bit."

"I'm fine with telling you that you're right."

"That's also an option. I like that option better."

"I had a feeling that you might."

"You were right. Though I wouldn't get used to me telling you that."

He smiled at her, it was a softer smile than the ones that he had given her earlier. "What are you doing after work tonight?"

Lily bit her bottom lip and tilted her head. "I don't know. What am I doing after work tonight?"

"Cute."

"I know." The bell above the door rung, making Lily jump.

"You really need to work out why you're frightened whenever someone comes into your shop." James teased, pushing himself off the case so that the new arrival could come up to the counter. It was one of Lily's regulars.

"Good evening, Mr. Hanson."

"Evening, Lily."

"Let me grab your order out of the back."

"Thank you, darling."

She returned, rung him up and wished him a merry Christmas as he left. "I'm not frightened of my customers."

"That's the second time I've seen you jump when someone's done nothing but walk in here."

" _You_ had interrupted my concentration."

"It seems like that is what Mr. Hanson did too." James was teasing still, but his ears were red. It made the butterflies in Lily's stomach calm down a bit.

"You were going to kiss me. I had a lot to concentrate on." The oven timer went off and she left him at the counter with a dumbstruck look on his face.

"That's an awfully bold assumption."

"I don't think so. We're you talking about how we were soulmates reincarnate just a little while ago?" His ears were bright red now.

"I didn't word it like that."

"I think you also agreed to tell me I was right though, yes?"

"I did do that." She turned to him, hand on her hip and waited a moment. "Alright, you're right."

"About everything?"

"I wasn't going to kiss you just then." Lily raised a brow, skeptical, but if she left the rolls in the oven any longer they were going to burn, so she had to turn away from him. "There was an entire bakery case between us, that wouldn't have been a very spectacular first kiss."

"Spectacular?" Lily laughed. "So your bar for compliments is low, but you just set the bar for a kiss _very_ high."

"That's fine, I'm great at living up to expectations." He assured her.

"Better be." She pulled his order out of the fridge and then got out another box for the cinnamon rolls.

"How do you feel about ice skating?"

"I feel positively for all wintery or Christmassy activities. Ice skating must be followed with hot chocolate though."

"Of course," James agreed, "And if at all possible, a fire as well."

"See, I should have known that you understand. Given your sweaters and all."

"You like this one?"

"Are the snowmen supposed to be doing the bend and snap?"

"No, but now that you mention it…" He tried to tilt his head to look at his sweater from a different angle and Lily laughed.

"Alright, here is all your desserts." She set them down on the counter. "Get them back to your mum before she thinks we've run off together."

"She knows that I would tell her before running off with someone." James scoffed. "But I will get these home, and then- Should I pick you up here?"

Lily grabbed a pad of paper and wrote down her address. "I'd like to change into clothes that aren't semi-caked in flour. You can pick me up _here_ ," She stuck the paper on top of the boxes and then slid them across the counter to him.

"Perfect."

"Perfect." Lily agreed.

"See, we agree on some things."

"So long as you don't get used to it, is all." Lily grinned. "I'll see you round seven?"

"Seven." He repeated. He smiled at her again before he scooped up all the boxes, and there were quite a few, and then started toward the door.

"Remember, I'll be expecting spectacular." James leaned his back against the door to push it open and nodded, still smiling, his ears slightly red.

"And so spectacular is what you'll get."

He was a bit of a hopeless romantic, and while that had never been her thing, she was quite sure that she was halfway to falling in love with him already.


End file.
